This document printed from the University of Illinois Extension Adams/Brown Unit at http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/adamsbrown/
Community Garden Tips
Garden Tips by Master Gardener Sharon Crum
March 24, 2008 - Week 1
Spring is in the air. This is the time to plan the vegetables you will want to plant for fresh eating all summer.
Purchase seeds early to ensure the variety you desire will be available. This is the time to purchase seed potatoes. On a few occasions, I have waited until I was nearly ready to plant only to find short supply (or maybe no supply) of seed potatoes.
If you would like onions for winter use, plant smaller sets. These will store better in the fall than the larger sets.
Lettuce is a common early crop. Consider combining several kinds of leaf lettuce together. Spinach is another good salad crop. Each of these items will only require 2 or 3 feet of space in a row to produce enough for a family. They have excellent favor in the cool spring weather.
Purchase extra radish seed for use later in the season to discourage squash bugs. More about that later, just secure the seed now.
Vegetables you can plant around April 1 would include:
Potatoes Onions Lettuce Spinach
Radishes Peas Cabbage Broccoli
Cauliflower Brussel Sprouts Beets
I am a big fan of using newspapers in the garden to keep down weeds. If you are interested in this, begin saving old newspapers. I will tell you more about using them later.
The time is here to begin choosing both seed and plants. In both cases, find disease resist varieties. Catalogs may list specific disease resistances. In general, the more diseases a plant or seed is resistant to, the better.
When planting time arrives, it is easy to be excited about planting and forget the amount of work that will be required later. Especially if you are new to gardening. So, start small with only a few vegetables.
If you have access to a few feet of old fence and a couple of steel posts, think about using it in your garden. Fencing works great for growing cucumbers, peas, lima beans, etc to keep the produce off the ground.
Dill is a great annual herb. It has an interesting odor to enjoy in the garden, as well as for culinary use.
Cabbage plants of many varieties are available. If you buy one dozen of the same variety, remember they may all be ready for your table the same week. Consider buying three or four varieties with various maturity dates. Most seed and plants labels will tell the expected number of days to maturity.
To further avoid insect and disease problems rotate your plant locations each year. In other words, do not plant the same vegetable or 'vegetable family' in the same location three years in a row. Basic families include:
